Consultancies

Each year, Mother Health International is approached by various midwifery organizations requesting support and partnership. Our commitment to locally sustained models of care has lead to a consultancy model. We partner with local organizations to support and sustain what is already happening on ground in the service of improved maternal health and the effective delivery of midwifery model of care services. The following partnerships are either ongoing or were served within the last few years.

Soley Lavey , Jacmel, Haiti

In 2010 following the earthquake that devastated Haiti and subsequently displaced families and medical centers, Soley Lavey was established as a birth center. For three years, Mother Health International addressed the infant and maternal mortality rates in Haiti by offering antenatal care, nutritional support, labor and birth support, and postpartum care to the women of Jacmel.

Over the past three years many women have been returning to their homes to birth. As our numbers at the birth center became lower, we realized the needs of the community had shifted and it was time to refocus our work to support the ‘homebirth midwives’ of Haiti, the Matrons. MHI has developed a resource and outreach program for the surrounding communities. Supported by Direct Relief International, we have joined an ongoing maternal health educational program throughout the country for the matrons, working along side other Haitian healthcare professionals to build knowledge and skills. We are excited to support local midwives to serve women in their communities.

Kassoumay Birth House, Kafountine, Senegal

In 2012 and 2013 Mother Health International partnered with a group of midwives in Kafountine, Senegal. Over the years a group of women, in the predominantly Diola neighborhood known as Kabar, have nurtured an informal women’s group that shares in assisting births. The group came together and raised funds to build a center, which was finished in February of 2013. The clinic opened its doors in June 2013 with the assistance of Mother Health International midwives to create clinical protocols and practical skill building for the traditional midwives. Our support of this project was to help establish a strong midwifery model of care within the traditional birthing community that has been and will continue to support births for local women.

Traditional midwives in Kafountine learn to check blood pressure.

PROSMI Foundation, Guinea

In 2014, Mother Health International director Rachel Zaslow was invited by Madame Djene Kaba Conde, the First Lady of Guinea to consult on Maternal Health issues for her foundation PROSMI (Maternal and Child Health Promotion). Mother Health has an ongoing partnership with PROSMI to create a working model of a birth clinic that will act as a training site for midwives around the country.

Rachel Zaslow shares the Heart Strings with the First Lady of Guinea.

This article has 2 comments

I am a neonatologist and the founder of a birthing home in Haiti. I have been working with other birthing homes, particularly in least developed countries, to build a peer network: GoodBirth Network (www.GoodBirth.net). We have identified birth centers or birthing homes in 58 countries.

Because many birth centers are independent, this network is an important opportunity to share best practices, common challenges, resources, and education. We would love to include your wonderful programs in this network. Who may I contact?

Mother Health International

We are a collective of midwives, doctors, activists and academics from countries around the world.
We believe that access to quality healthcare is an essential human right.
We work to break down issues of race, class and gender that keep women from accessing care.
Our clinics are a manifestation of grassroots, hand in hand collaborative work.
We welcome collaboration of skills, ideas and support.
If you are interested in joining us, please contact us here